11 Listens: Police combat drivers speeding in Searcy

SEARCY, ARK. (KTHV) - Several drivers in Searcy are ignoring the 40 mile per hour speed limit along Beebe Capps Expressway and it has people in the community asking for extra patrol. Sergeant Steve Hernandez sat along Beebe Capps Expressway watching traffic and in that short amount of time he pulled over not one but two people.

“The speed limit is 40 miles per hour and I got you clocked in at 59 miles per hour. That's twenty miles over the speed limit,” Hernandez said talking to the first speeder.

The second conversation goes about the same as the first. Both drivers were ticketed for speeding. After a viewer concern about the issue, we went to police. They spent seven straight hours in one day checking the area.

The Searcy Police Deparment put a speed trailer alongside Beebe Capps Expressway and out of 688 cars, 494 of those were speeding.

“Our stats are showing us that the average speed on Beebe Capps has been 42.6 mph,” Hernandez explained.

Now officers are taking action to keep their community safe. In response, the police have set up a speed trailer.

“Those trailers actually collect data and we review that data," he said. "It kind of tells us where we need to have officers looking for the speeders.”

Hernandez believes this strategy will help the community in the long run. The speed trailers will be set up at a different spot every day.